Russia keeps tensions alive – its military research vessel Yantar seen of US coast

The Yantar, a Russian research military vessel, has been tracked near a Georgia submarine base – the Yantar is believed to be a deep-sea surveillance craft and is capable of cutting underwater cables. This vessel is being monitored by the US military. It has been sailing close to a ballistic missile submarine base and underwater transit routes and has been tracked since late August as it moved from the north Atlantic near Canada towards Cuba.
This has been revealed by Pentagon officials and reported in news.sky.com dated 5 September 2015. Defense officials feel that it is gathering intelligence on underwater sensors and other equipment used by US nuclear submarines stationed at Kings Bay, Georgia.

The vessel is part of Russia's underwater reconnaissance program probably meant to identify undersea communications lines, which could be used to disrupt US military operations. The Yantar was around 300 miles off the US coast, and remains in international waters.
Kings Bay in Georgia holds six Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. Each of these are capable of firing 24 Trident intercontinental ballistic missiles. Moreover, there are two guided-missile submarines which fire Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Incidentally, US also has similar intelligence ships off the coast of Russia – those are identified as ‘oceanographic ships' for studying whales.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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